Letters to the Editor: Public option must be in health plan

Public option must be in health plan
We need a public option that at least provides a “safety net.” The HMOs have run roughshod over consumers for far too long. Start with a “safety net” public option, then if the insurance companies don’t clean up their act, that public option should be put on steroids.
--L. FRIEDMAN
--Longmeadow

Friends of Library earn city’s gratitude
Oct. 18 to 24 is National Friends of Libraries week, making it a great time to publicly thank the Friends of the Springfield Library who contribute so much of their time and expertise to significantly enhance our services. Our Friends group began in 1984 and over the course of the past 25 years has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover the costs of a myriad of programs, library materials, equipment, celebrations and contests. In fact, the Friends recently provided books for a family literacy program, FAIR (Family Adventures in Reading), being offered at various library branches throughout the city. I know that the Springfield City Library system is a source of pride for our community. Our Friends group is a source of pride as well.
--MOLLY FOGARTY, Interim Library Director
--Springfield City Library

Finding new drugs an intricate process
While there are several debatable and possibly misleading statements here, there is one glaring incorrect statement that reads, “Why do pharmaceuticals charge thousands of times what it costs to make prescription drugs? Simply because they can.” Developing a new drug is not simple. Not “because they can,” but because of the following: Pre-clinical testing. Phase I testing; Phase II testing; and Phase III testing. Estimates of developing a new drug range from $800 million to nearly $2 billion, according to the U.S. Department of State publication and ChereSources.com. If any flaw manifests itself during these trials and cannot be corrected, the drug-developing process is discontinued. If the flaw can be corrected, the process begins all over again; the drug is treated as if it were a brand new drug. Developing new drugs is not only a costly venture but a lengthy venture. New drugs are approximately 12 to 15 years in the making. Of course pharmaceutical companies make money – not nearly as quickly as you might think which is why companies are granted a lengthy patent – to help they recover the development costs.
--CAMILLE CASTRO
--Chicopee

Cell use bigger risk than older drivers
A lot of people I have spoken with agree with a recent letter to the editor about the unfairness of testing just elderly drivers. Cell phones are a bigger problem. If they tested drivers using a cell phone in either of their hands, very few would pass a test. Most responsible families watch out for their elderly family members and their driving skills. Mind me now, I only said most. But the cell phone drivers are everywhere. We’ve all been guilty of driving while using them and using them with hands-free devices is distracting.
--PEGGY VERSHON
--Ware

Hypocrisy rampant among ruling elite
Those who voted for President Barack Obama but now voice dissent with his policy initiatives are branded as racists by the same people who sported “dissent is the highest form of patriotism” bumper stickers last year. Their hypocrisy is rank and the stench is burning my nostrils. America is waking up and the arrogant ruling elite have no appreciation for an alert electorate.
--MICHAEL BENSCHE
--Longmeadow

U.S. exported jobs, causing recession
There is a very simple reason that we are going through a jobless economic recovery: there are too few good jobs left. Our insatiable appetite for “bargain prices” and obscene corporate profits has sent our manufacturing to low-wage countries – many of which have derived only dubious benefits from the transfer. Mexico, for example, had an uptick in the number of factory jobs when manufacturers transferred their production there in order to reduce labor costs. But, as wages eked higher in Mexico manufacturers transferred jobs to even cheaper labor markets. I wonder how much of the current political and social upheavals in Mexico can be attributed to the get-rich zeal of developed nations. The United States needs trade and tax policies that will encourage the retention of good paying jobs in the United States; and an enlightened world view that replaces the “economic hit men” of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank with policies devoted to the equitable distribution of wealth and economic development among all people and all nations.
--JIM PALERMO
--Southampton